ORLANDO, Fla. – What to Know:
• With the average vehicle on the road now more than 13 years old, preventive maintenance is becoming more important than ever.
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• Americans, however, are delaying routine vehicle maintenance as higher costs continue to strain household budgets.
• Skipping small repairs can lead to much larger – and much more expensive – problems later.
My first new car was a 1986 Chevrolet Camaro.
Of course when it was new, I loved that car. Looking back, though, it wasn’t a particularly great car. For the first five years of ownership, things went well, but somewhere around 59,000 miles, the transmission started to slip. Rather than facing a huge repair bill, I eventually got rid of it.
Back then, a car reaching 100,000 miles was still considered a milestone. Today’s vehicles are on a whole different level: 100k on the odometer is now a vehicle’s midlife crisis, not its deathbed. Improved engineering, better manufacturing, advances in synthetic lubricants, corrosion protection, and onboard diagnostics have helped modern vehicles routinely reach 200,000 miles or more with proper maintenance.
By the time I sold the Camaro in the 1990s, the average passenger car was about 8.4 years old. Today that average is closer to 13.6 years. That’s great news for consumers, but it also means maintenance matters more than ever. With Americans holding on to their cars longer, countless families are having the same conversation around the kitchen table: “Why buy a new car when the one in the driveway is still running just fine?”
Is it though?
New or Used: Cars are Not Cheap to Maintain
In July 2026, the national average for regular gasoline crossed $4 a gallon. The average advertised price of a new car reached a record $51,974. Even used cars remain historically expensive, averaging more than $25,000.
With the cost of just about everything automotive on the rise and household budgets stretched thin, many drivers are putting off routine automotive maintenance. You know that little sticker in the corner of your windshield telling you it’s time for an oil change? For a growing number of people, it’s becoming more of a suggestion than a deadline.
Deferred maintenance can take on many forms: aside from skipping that oil change, it can be delaying new tires, putting off brake work, delaying transmission service, or ignoring a check-engine light. Replacing worn brake pads may cost several hundred dollars. Waiting until the pads damage the rotors, calipers or brake sensors can turn that routine service into a repair costing well over $1,000, depending on the vehicle.
Sometimes trying to save money today ends up costing you even more tomorrow.
AAA estimates that 64 million Americans would likely have to borrow money or go into debt to pay for an unexpected repair bill, highlighting the financial strain many households face when their vehicles need work.
Repairs are only one part of the financial pressure. Drivers are also absorbing the rising overall cost of owning a vehicle. AAA estimates that owning and operating a new vehicle costs an average of $11,577 a year in 2025, or about $965 per month. That includes expenses such as depreciation, financing, fuel, insurance, registration, taxes, and maintenance. Drivers can expect to spend an average of $1,656 annually on maintenance, repairs and tires, based on driving 15,000 miles per year – about 11.04 cents per mile.
If that sounds like a lot for a new car, older vehicles don’t necessarily fare much better. The average vehicle on U.S. roads is now over 13 years old, meaning millions of drivers are maintaining cars that are well beyond their factory warranties and more likely to need costly repairs. And while drivers of paid-off cars avoid monthly loan payments and steep depreciation, those aging vehicles typically require more frequent and more expensive maintenance – upkeep that many Americans are delaying.
AAA found that about one-third of U.S. drivers have skipped or delayed recommended vehicle maintenance or repairs.
Why? Part of the answer comes down to labor.
Kelley Blue Book reports the average car repair now costs $838, citing Cox Automotive repair data. Data from Tekmetric, one of the largest repair shop management software providers in North America, shows the average repair shop charges about $132 per hour for labor. The lowest average rate in the country: West Virginia ($85 per hour), while Texas has the highest (an average of $197 per hour). Florida sits on the high side of the national average at $154 per hour.
Parts are the other side of the equation. Federal data show producer prices for motor vehicle parts rose more than 6% between late 2021 and late 2024, making even do-it-yourself repairs more expensive than they once were.
Think of deferred maintenance as borrowing from your future self: every time you postpone routine service, you’re gambling that today’s savings won’t become tomorrow’s much larger repair bill. Often, they do.
A Bellwether for the Economy
For many households, routine maintenance is no longer automatic. It’s another expense competing for room in the monthly budget. One of the earliest signs that consumers were under financial pressure didn’t come from economists: it came from auto parts retailers.
During an earnings call in 2024, Advance Auto Parts executives told investors that many do-it-yourself customers were delaying routine maintenance – including oil changes and even ignoring check-engine lights – as budgets tightened. Advance Auto wasn’t alone: other repair companies and auto parts suppliers reported similar trends, telling investors that consumers are postponing maintenance, choosing less expensive repairs, and waiting until problems become unavoidable.
Triage: What Not to Skip
Not all maintenance is created equal, and mechanics say that distinction matters when money is tight.
Routine fluid and filter changes are among the least expensive maintenance items you’ll encounter – and among the most important. Oil changes, transmission fluid, coolant – changing these are relatively inexpensive but protect components that cost thousands to replace. Skipping a $50 service to avoid a $5,000 engine or transmission job is the definition of penny-wise, pound-foolish.
Tires and brakes are the next tier – not just financially, but because they’re safety systems. Squealing brakes deserve immediate attention because – as mentioned – waiting to change pads can also damage rotors and turn a relatively modest repair into a much larger bill.
Tires deserve the same urgency.
Driving too long on worn or improperly aligned tires can compromise handling and accelerate wear on steering and suspension components. So when you do get them replaced, new tires and alignment aside, you may also have to factor in the cost of new shocks, struts, bushings, or other suspension components.
That tracks with AAA’s own maintenance guidance, which treats brake problems, check-engine lights, and fluid leaks as things to address immediately – while tasks like exterior waxing or cleaning up excess brake dust on your rims can wait months or longer.
The check-engine light is the wild card. Generally, dashboard warning lights follow a color code: amber means “get it checked soon,” blinking amber means “pay attention to me: you should really get this checked now”, and red usually means “stop and address it immediately.”
Above all, don’t let a check-engine light sit unread for months; most auto parts stores will check it for free which can tell you whether it’s nothing, or something. It can mean a loose gas cap, a bad oxygen sensor, or a failing catalytic converter. The range between “ignore it” and “tow it” is enormous, which is why getting the code read early is almost always cheaper – and wiser – than hoping the light just goes away.
Pay Now, or Pay More Later
My Camaro never got a second chance. I sold it at 59,000 miles rather than face the transmission bill, and I never found out what else it might have had left to give.
Today’s drivers don’t have to make that same trade. The choice isn’t maintenance or no maintenance – it’s which repairs you make first. And what hasn’t changed is the math: a little bit of money now almost always beats a lot of money later.
If your budget is tight, that doesn’t mean ignoring your car – it means triaging it. Fix what protects your safety and what protects your engine. Defer what’s cosmetic. Nobody budgets for a $1,000 repair bill. But that’s exactly what a skipped $50 service can turn into.
The bill is coming either way. The only questions are when, and how much.
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